Saturday, April 12, 2008

First Pages

Elephant gestation. That's how I've always characterized the book writing and publishing process. It generally takes years from the time an author first comes up with an idea and the published book is shelved. The time it takes for a book to move from shelf to remainder bin is, alas, much shorter. Interesting life cycle, books.

Yesterday, the good humored production manager at Morehouse called to say "first pages" for The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Todayare ready. How did I want them? PDF? Hard copy? I'm the first author he has worked with who'd rather mark up PDF files.

The dear man conveyed this info without groaning or gagging. I wondered out loud if, after working with me, he'll demand future authors be banned from using Adobe Acrobat. Apparently not, because used properly, Adobe Acrobat speeds production. That's the theory.

Still, I asked to receive this evidence of progress electronically and on paper. Different "issues" pop out in each medium. I want to make sure that what looked like an unreadable font size on my screen at 1:30 AM, is more readable during normal working hours. I'm also ready for some tangible evidence that this book is going to be printed before Jesus comes again in glory, or I get to see him seated at the right hand of the Father. Amen.